The Knight of the Golden Melice eBook

CHAPTER XI.

Oh! he sits high in all the people’s
hearts.

SHAKESPEARE.

It was evident that, so far from anything being to
be expected from the interposition of the Governor,
he was opposed to the marriage of Arundel as long
as the latter should remain outside of the charmed
circle of the Church—­a full communion with
which was necessary, even to the exercise of the rights
of a citizen. But the young man was incapable
of deception. His ingenuous mind turned, displeased,
away from the bait the wily Governor had presented;
and, dearly as he loved his mistress, he would have
preferred to renounce her rather than play the hypocrite
to obtain the prize. He was not much cast down,
for, having sought the interview, not from the promptings
of his own judgment, but out of deference to the wishes
of the knight, he was not greatly disappointed.
He remained firm in the resolution, whatever might
be the risk, to release Eveline from the constraint
exercised over her by her guardian. Silent, with
the Indian silent following in his footsteps, he returned
to his lodgings to brood over his prospects and to
devise schemes.

The next day was the time fixed for receiving the
Taranteens; and not without interest, notwithstanding
the pre-occupation of his mind, did Arundel look forward
to the event. Such deputations or embassies were,
indeed, not uncommon, and the young man had already
been present at more than one occasion of the kind;
but great consequence was attached to the present,
and unusual preparations were made to convert the
ceremony into a scene that should be imposing to the
imagination of the savages, and forcibly impress them
with an idea of the power of the English.

The name Taranteen was given to the natives living
on the banks of the river Kennebec, in the present
state of Maine, and embraced a number of tribes, among
whom were those called by the French Abenakis.
They were a fierce and proud race, and had spread
the terror of their arms to a wide distance from their
hunting grounds. There was a perpetual feud betwixt
them and the Aberginians, as the Indians on Massachusetts
Bay were styled, who, in consequence of wars with their
northern neighbors, as well as of the pestilence which
had desolated their wigwams, had become reduced from
the condition of a powerful people to comparative
insignificance. These Taranteens had, at the beginning
of the settlement of the colony, occasionally done
some mischief, descending these rivers in canoes in
small bands, plundering the cabins of exposed settlers,
and sometimes murdering the inmates. As the power
of the whites increased, and their name became more
terrible, these forays had almost ceased, and in most
instances the colonists were able, in one way and
another, to obtain satisfaction for the wrongs committed.
There was no defined state of hostilities existing
betwixt them and the Taranteens, nor could it be said